Meditations

Great masses of gray and white cumulus ascend thousands of feet over the partially shadowed lines of the foothills at the entrance to the canyon. As often happens after a…

As William Faulkner wrote, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” But blaming others, personally or collectively, for real or imagined injustices, perpetuates dependency. Indeed, prolonging a feeling of…

“Tread down my need, and faith mounts up; keep my need up, and faith is trodden down!” – Shakespeare, King John

As the highest principle of political and social life, the nation-state has become completely unworkable. A global polity urgently needs to emerge.

There’s a great deal of confusion surrounding the idea of limits and limitations, including by supposed philosophers. What are limits, and what are our limitations? It’s a question well worth…

Though parochial minds think in terms of ‘the future of America,’ or ‘the future of Latin America,’ or ‘the future of Africa,’ the issue now, as never before in human…

“Doubt,” I once heard a teacher say, “is like having a dog on a leash. You have to know when to let it run, and when to put it back…

Despite my surname, I come from a family of recent Irish immigrants with long memories. I grew up hearing stories about 19th century anti-Irish prejudice in America, epitomized by “No…